The
Toaster Kitchen Computer

Response to this computer mod has been amazing! So much so that I am
launching a second website to sell an improved production model of this computer
mod. I have used this site and mod to show the world what I have done. Now this
mod has become a prototype and production models will be available soon.

Well, funding for this project has fallen a bit short. I still own the
domain, but for the time being the project of selling production model toasters
has been put on hold. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to
email me.

Introduction

This is the first computer that
I have ever built. When I first looked into building a computer I wanted the
best, fastest computer I could possibly build. Then I looked into the price of
the components and WOW! that stuff is expensive. I priced out a P4 2.8 and the
processor alone was $380 U.S. Dollars! The entire system was going to cost in
excess of $1,900 U.S. Dollars. Well, I do not make that much money so I decided
to put the computer building on hold for a year or two in order to save up.

About this time my wife came to
me and asked to place our old PII tower computer in the kitchen (she has several
cookbooks, gets recipes online, etc…). Now let me tell you that not only is
this tower computer huge, it is U-G-L-Y. I don’t even think it would fit
underneath the kitchen cabinets, and don’t even ask about the 6 year old 15”
monitor!

Now, when I explained all of
this to one of my co-workers he suggested a Mini-ITX system. I had never heard
of this, but when he told me about how small it was, its capabilities, and its
price, I thought “wunderbar” this is it!

Since my wife wanted it for the kitchen I thought to
disguise it as a kitchen appliance. My co-worker and I kicked around a few ideas
but I finally decided on a toaster. It had the internal space required and looks
good too. I then got on the Internet to find out more about what computer
components to buy and I found this site, www.mini-itx.com.
I was kind of bummed to see that a few people had built a toaster before, but I
figured “What the hell”, I have never built a toaster, original or not!